Daily Logs

After 24 hours of gale force winds and heavy seas, we sail into flat water inside the barrier reef on the eastern approach to the San Blas archipelago. It is a moonless night and pitch black as we ghost through the water, relying solely on our charts to guide us through the channel towards Holandes Cays, a small atoll surrounded by a complex reef system. We have heard that 6 boats have been lost here since Christmas so we check our pilotage carefully, silent in the cockpit, straining our senses to see or hear something in the inky black night.The San Blas Islands, off the coast of Panama, are notoriously poorly charted and under normal circumstances we wouldn’t attempt a night-time entry. However on the SSB radio net today we discuss this with other members of the World ARC fleet and one. read more...

Around 4:00 AM this morning we cross 15 degrees West Longitude; and thereby enter into another time zone. However, we're not changing our watches and clocks on board as we're on 'St. Helena Start Time.' That way, all the boats are on the same time for the morning and evening communication nets. Otherwise, boats would be spread over 2 time zones and could be spread over 3. Up at 6:30 AM. I 'slept in' because Jeanine didn't wake me. The wind is 8 knots and we're motoring at 5.4 knots thru the water and 6.0 knots over the land. At 6:47 AM I roll the mainsail out. Now we're motor sailing. Go figure. The sun rises at 6:50 AM. With clouds on the horizon, there is no green flash. At 7:31 AM I turn the engine off and wake Joel. Its time to roll the spinnaker out again. The spinnaker is rolled up. read more...

We celebrated our half way point to Salvador Bahia last night, with lamb chops, home made bread and wine for dinner! We crossed the 1000nm mark right at dinner time and were rewarded with the wind returning and pulling out the sails after a day of motoring. It's great to have a quiet boat again even if it is slow. We also marked the event by launching a "message in a bottle" from the entire crew, using a special kit given to us by our wonderful nieces and nephews when we left Georgetown! Hopefully someone will recover it someday and send us a note so we can mark it's travels! We had some fishing excitement yesterday also, we hooked a large Wahoo who fought Finnbar for about 15 minutes, pulling and jumping around like a haywire torpedo. He eventually freed himself, and when we pulled the. read more...

Up at 6:00 AM; then showered and shaved. Relieved Jeanine at 6:25 AM. Clouds on the horizon so it doesn't look good for a green flash sunrise. We'll see.The sun rises at 6:47 AM. An above average sunrise, but no green flash due to clouds. As usual, I take pictures of the sunrise. I do the same for each sun set. I have a LOT of sun rise and sun set pictures. Go figure. At 8:02 AM the wind is 4 knots directly astern of us; and we're motoring at 5.7 knots thru the water and 6.0 knots over the land. Its sunny and hot. The sun is like a blow torch, even low in the skyearly in the morning. The bimini and dodger offer no protection, yet, due to its low angle. I'm wearing shorts and no shirt. At 8:26 AM the auto pilot shuts off and goes to 'standby.' Aggravating. I 'catch' one of the wheels. read more...

A KID FROM KANSAS by Jay AilworthI first went to sea as a boy of nineteenCoast Guard boot camp made me military lean.For 10 months I engaged in battles off some Southeast Asian land,On my return I found I had become a man.The kid from Kansas now had the sea in his veins,There would be no going back to those Midwestern plains.Now I go sailing whenever I am able,Proud to carry the "Rag Bagger" label.I have sailed the Caribbean before the mast carried on the wind on tall ships,And have witnessed the transition to navigation by micro chips.From San Francisco, to Bangkok, Tahiti and Hong Kong I have roamed the Pacific,of Mexico to Canada too many places to be specific.Now the time has come to explore the Atlantic side,So many places to see, so little time, it is very difficult to decide.A. read more...

Well that's our first 100nm day, and our lesson in patience is continuing. We're running the motor for a while today to charge the batteries and regroup a little with the others as we've spread out over the night with some motor sailing and some just sailing along slowly following the wind at different times. Another beautiful day though and we're still fishing but not catching yet. However we are playing dominoes, reading and listening to Eric Clapton and AC/DC on the stereo, so it's not all bed. Yesterday, as we were slowly sailing along,I was tempted to launch the dingy and run over to NDS Darwin to see if they had any Gray Poupon,but they were just a little too far away.Russ and Laurie on NEXUS 10:40 01/30/2015 at 13 12.3'S;20 39.8'W. read more...

THE SIREN'S CALL by Jay AilworthIt used to be ships were made of wood and men of steel,They navigated the oceans less by science and more by feel.Now we sail boats of carbon and fiberglass,And many a sailor has learned the arcane skills in a sailing academy class.In sudden squalls and violent storms the ships were torn, and tossed,While men fighting the tempest were swept overboard and lost.The oceans still delivers the storms as it did back then,But now our weather fax and gribs tell us where and when.Storms were not all that could bring a ship to grief,Many found their doom on an uncharted mid ocean reef.No longer do we chart our course by the southern cross or northern pole star,Electronic chart plotters and GPS point out each reef, island or shore near and far.While our differences. read more...

The wind left us for a while last night, dropping to less than 8kts. For different reasons we were mostly all awake in the middle of the night, so we took the sail down and motored for a while. We put her back out this morning when the wind seemed to return but soon dropped to 8-11kts from dead aft, where it stayed all day. We sailed 3-5kts ALL DAY today. It was a beautiful day, with music on the stereo, and surprisingly, NEXUS sails beautifully at 4kts in calm seas, just steadily plodding along. We're in a small group with Alpheratz, NDS Darwin, Ghost and NEXUS. Tim called over this morning to ask where we had gone, and we told him we slowly motored away last night, he put his motor on to re-group with the rest of us and put his sails back out to plod along. When he called Alpheratz to. read more...

Up at 5:50 AM for my 6:00 AM to 10:00 AM watch. Conditions are good for a sunrise green or blue flash, so Jeanine stays up with me instead of going to bed like she normally does after her 3:00 AM to 6:00 AM watch. I put a fish line in the water; and at 6:20 AM I wake Joel to watch the sunrise.I'm only waking him if I think the conditions for a green or blue sunrise flash are good. At 6:27 AM we get a hit on the fishing line in the water. A small fish; another Mahi Mahi. Since we're waiting for the sun to rise, we ignore the fish and concentrate on watching the sunrise. At 6:30 AM the sun rises, and Joel sees a large green flash, maybe the best he's seen on this trip. I think I see some blue in the flash, as does Jeanine; but since we can't agree together its green or blue, I'm calling it. read more...

ON WATCH by Jay AilworthThe ocean waves roll endlessly under the boat's keel,A nice easy ride with barely a heel.We glide seamlessly over the Earth's trackless faceThe view never changes, we could be sailing in place.Clouds white and puffy soar overhead,While the off watch crew is below in bed. I spend this special time alone at the wheel,It is difficult to put into words the way that I feel.If I could carry a tune perhaps I would sing,I so love sailing with a kite on two pieces of string!Until next time...Charlie, Cathy & Jay. read more...

Arrived yesterday in Shelter Bay Marina, crossingall the traffic in and out of the canal, busy anchorage, not too much traffic,fortunately. Very tight spot in the marina, only a small scratch, shouldn't be toodifficult to repair. The marina is on the site of the Fort Sherman US Marinesbarracks, not in use since 1999 when the US relinquished control of the canal.Lots of derelict buildings, some look almost new. Today we had the admeasurer on board to check ourcapability to transit the canal, very nice chap, thorough but friendly, allok. Next trying to find a fitting for the watermaker, no luck, wasted acouple of hours trying. Managed to change the impeller on the main enginebefore heading off at 1300 to visit the Gatun Locks, where we pass through onSunday evening. The. read more...

Whistle Stop update.Yesterday was spent in Porvenir - another stunningly beautiful San Blas Island with an airstrip. You have to walk across the runway to get to the shop which sells beer, pepsi, water and crisps. No health and safety - just check in the sky that no planes are landing or taking off! The afternoon spent with a few beers with Makena’s crew (Makena is a brand new 62 foot Cat - just huge) and Pentagram followed by supper on Makena.Today was a 50 mile sail to Portobello. Packed with history - this is the port the Spanish used to ship gold and silver from S America back to Seville. There is an old fort here, Sir Francis Drake has history here too which we will discover shortly.Fish going nuts jumping all around us.Off to explore ashore now before heading to Shelter Bay. read more...

Up at 5:50 AM. Conditions are good for a sunrise green flash; and at 6:15 AM the sun rises and Jeanine and I see something we've never seen before - a magnificent blue flash! Actually, a double flash. The first lasts 3 seconds and the second 1-2 seconds. More like a light bulb going off than a flash. The upper third of the sun is painted blue. Joel is down below sleeping, but hears our elation from the cockpit. At 6:38 AM the wind is 8 knots and we're moving at 4.4 knots thru the water and 4.7 knots over the land. Not great, but at least we're not motoring...yet.At 8:00 AM the wind is 8 knots and we're moving at 4.1 knots thru the water and 4.1 knots over the land; and our COG (Course Over Ground) is 269 degrees. At 8:28 AM I hear St. Helena radio talking to a boat. The island is 128. read more...

When asked to write a guest blog I wanted to try and find a theme to hang it on – that hasn’t really worked, but perhaps this hotchpotch is a fairer representation of a novice sailor thrown into a completely new experience. Firstly an update on our progress...Arriving in San Blas in pitch black on Tuesday night was both exhilarating and terrifying in equal measure. This magical archipelago just off the Panamanian coast has not been officially well surveyed which means the available charts are lacking in detail and not to be relied upon. Approaching any relatively shallow land mass/reef area in daylight needs to be handled with extreme caution but throw darkness, no prior knowledge of the area and no clear markers into the mix – and it becomes extremely nerve wracking. Anyway we made it –. read more...

Blue FlashesGreen flashes are rather rare phenomena that occur just as the sun sets [or rises] turning just the upper part of the sun green, but an even rarer occurrence is a blue flash, which is basically the same thing as a green flash, but it’s blue.To understand how a blue flash works you need to know how a green flash works:first off the flash is created because the sun’s actual position on the horizon is lower than it appears as a result of light bending when it enters the atmosphere.Violet and blue light rays having short wave lengths are bent more than the longer wave-length yellow, orange and red light rays.Green rays are intermediate in length and are bent at an intermediate angle.Therefore you see the green sunrays between red and blue, though in reality, these colors overlap,. read more...

Light winds today, but very nice weather and calm seas, with 1300nm to go! It was a calm night sailing, but we saw Alpharatz and Ghost close their distance to us nicely, and NDS Darwin pull slightly ahead overnight. We're going almost dead downwind and I think they have more sail area out than our Asymmetric has. which helps them along...great sailing guys! We're looking at tweaking our rig a bit to see if we can wring another half knot out of our Asymmetric and try to keep up, but these light winds keep you on your toes to boat moving nicely. Hopefully we'll get some 15kt periods back this afternoon and make up some ground! We had a bit of excitement on the fishing front this morning, with three simultaneous reels going off. Unfortunately we were not able to board any of them, one broke. read more...

Noon Position: 9.22N 79.57WDaily Run: 75 milesDestination: Christobel, Colon, PanamaThe San Blas islands are relatively unspoilt as access can only be had by boat and none of the islands are big enough to justify setting up any kind of commerce. They can all be walked round in a couple of hours and many have extensive reefs surrounding them with the occasional yacht wrecked high and dry. Nevertheless, yachties are quite numerous, anchoring off here and there, while the winds never seem to impose any kind of threat. Only El Porvenir has an airstrip and that is where one can check into Panama (immigration) although the island itself is tiny with a few fishing families living on it. Our stay, alas, could not be extended and at 5pm on Monday, we left El Porvenir to make for Colon, the town. read more...

St. Helena was discovered by the Portuguese navigator Joao da Nova Castella on May 21, 1502; and was named after the mother of the Emperor Constantine. Her name was...Helena; and her birthday, you guessed it, was on May 21. Up at 8:00 AM. Coffee and tea.Breakfast at 10:00 AM: scrambled eggs; cut up spiced potato; fruit cocktail; and brown bread. For Joel and me. Jeanine had yogurt and granola. We turned on the generator to charge batteries and made water for 3 hours. Joel transferred pictures from his camera and mine to his computer so we can send some to the our rally web site later today. We took the water taxi into the wharf at 11:40 AM, along with one empty jerry can that we had forgotten to have filled with diesel yesterday. When we got to the dock I asked our whale shark tour guide. read more...

We get up, and have a coffee and tea;start the engine at 7:57 AM; slip the yellow mooring buoy and head out of the St. Helena anchorage towards Salvador, Brazil 1,900 nautical miles away (2,185 statue miles). Adela leaves ahead of us at 8:00 AM. We roll the mainsail out and are motor sailing. St. Helena has been one of the best stops on our circumnavigation, and one the airport is finished be constructed, it will be accessible by plane instead of now, just by ship or boat. At 8:10 AM we pass thru an area where dolphins have been feasting on large fish. These 'large' fish have been jumping 3-5 feet out of the water trying to escape the pod of dolphin chasing them. The wind is 2 knots as we're in the lee of the island. 'Lee of the island' means we're down wind of the cliffs so the wind. read more...

We had a slow night with light winds but kept the gennaker flying through it, in the morning the wind picked up to 13-15kts and we've had a beautiful sailing day today. We have 1,440nm to go, and NEXUS is sailing well and smoothly. We're still sailing in company with NDS Darwin, with Celebrate, Ghost and Alpheratz within 40nm around us. It's nice to have company, although with various levels of motoring and sailing patience between the boats! No fish yet, although we heard Saphir landed a 100lb Marlin....not what we're looking for! A Mahi Mahi or Yellowfin would be nice though! All is well.Russ and Laurie on NEXUS 15:00 01/27/2015 at 13 23.1'S;14 00.0'W. read more...

PLAYING THE ANGLES by Jay AilworthFor days the wind has been quiet - too quiet,We have a kite but could not fly it.The wind has been fickle and all wrong,Our main and jib being limp like a wet sarong.The diesel drone has been annoying,Cats paws of wind constantly toying.Time, distance, and fuel remaining are a major consideration,Having no wind or fuel with miles to go would be a grave miscalculation.But then this morning the sea bestowed us a gift,The wind is up offering us a lift.Now the engine is cold and quiet,With the spinnaker up with wind to fly it.Hopefully this is the end to our woe and remorse,At last we are sailing on our lay line course.Until next time...Charlie, Cathy & Jay. read more...

CAPTAIN COOK by Jay AilworthMostly we get fed from a bowl,So we do not spill is the ultimate goal.The captain does the cooking,Who knows what he puts in while we are not looking.Sunday is supposedly a day of restBut for us something else makes it the best.Because of the gentle urging of the mate,Our intrepid skipper feeds us from a plate.During our morning meal,It is my trick at the wheel. I get my plate handed to me first,While the mate brings coffee to slake my thirst.Now that I am on course with all sails set,It is time to tuck into a tasty cheese and salami omelet!Until next time...Charlie, Cathy & Jay. read more...

ST. HELENA INTERLUDE by Jay AilworthWe have ended our three day St. Helena interlude,Now heading for a distant western longitude,Salvador, Brazil is our next port of call,1790 miles of open ocean before we make landfall.The wind is light and from the east,Not good for us and we are feeding the diesel beast.We need to be free of the island's effect,So wind and waves can combine for the proper cause and effect.The ocean is so large and we so small,If it stays this way it could be a mighty long haul.Until next time...Charlie, Cathy & Jay. read more...

Three wrecked yachts, one less than a week old marked the danger points on our arrival this morning at Porvenir to clear formally into Panama. The locals were still busy stripping the hulls - apparently usually done in less than a week - the masts were already gone (we understand they use chainsaws!), three of their long ulus tied up alongside one boat.Then on arrival at Lemmon Cays later today a large 90 foot motor sailor was on the reef right by the clearest and recommended route in- still fully masted and all deck gear and sails present - so must have been even more recent - we are looking out for lights tonight in case there is anyone on board still guarding the vessel. All sorry sights and fully justifying the warning from the local cruiser friend of one of the fleet that these. read more...

We dropped anchor in the lagoon between the 2 islands having negotiated the narrow channel between the reefs.A wreck on the reef was a sad sight.A pot luck lunch (where every yacht brings a dish) was arranged on the island so it was another social afternoon, drinking the milk out of coconuts with a slug of rum added.Paul from the World ARC has arrived with the bearing for Ayama so now we can haul out in Shelter Bay the marina at the east end of the Panama Canal. Per and I went for a swim on the south side of the island where it was flat water.When we arrived back at the dinghy dock Anna was stood on the dock and Stefan was halfway into the dinghy exposing some very white buttocks as his shorts were slipping down!!!He had had to go in the water to undo the chain locking the dinghy to the. read more...

THE FIRST LEG by Jay AilworthThe first leg of our Atlantic crossing is nearing its end,St. Helena lies 175 miles near the horizon's bend.Napoleon spent his last days walking upon her shore,A minor footnote after decades of conflict and war.We simply seek some rest and relaxation, Soon underway again to our next destination.Of course on a boat the work is never really done,We have projects to do and things to fix while anchored in the tropical sun,No matter what, we will make the time to have a little fun.Until next time...Charlie, Cathy & Jay. read more...

As we approached the West Holandes Cays we had an escort of dolphins. They are so playful and fascinating to watch as they dive and leap around the bow.I love them.We arrived in the afternoon which made it easier to see the reefs as we came in from the east.The charts are NOT reliable so Per was in the bow giving directions between the reefs.A few of the Arc boats were anchored in the Swimming Pool anchorage and we joined them.Having dropped the anchor Stefan dived down to check it out and it was well dug into the sand.Per and I had a swim off Ayama but even though we are behind the reef there is a strong current and it was hard to swim to the bow but a quick float back to the stern.Stefan put a buoy and a rope off the stern so I felt safer.I had visions of me disappearing off to the. read more...

Arrived in Islas Linton, great sheltered anchorage,surprised at how many other boats there are at anchor here, must be 60 plus,some look to have been here quite a long time. Seems very sheltered in the Leeof the island. Apparently there are lots of monkeys on the island who are veryinquisitive and have taken over a derelict house. The island looks very desertedand overgrown. Karma Wins and Allegro have joined us in theanchorage, Allegro arriving just before dark. Tomorrow off to Shelter Bay marina in Colon to getready for the big adventure of going through the Panama Canal, which we arescheduled to do on the 1st and 2nd Feb. Update tomorrow! John. read more...

A week is a long time in a circumnavigator's life, at least that's what last week has been for us. After a peaceful, uneventful 1750 nautical miles of passage across the Atlantic Ocean from Cape Town, we sighted the clouds topping the peaks of St Helena, last Thursday morning. We had previously crossed the Greenwich Meridian and started acquiring degrees west of longitude, from zero, to get to 5 degrees 45 minutes West at St Helena. We had also put the clock back by two hours in a single day, to Greenwich Mean Time which is now the same as UK time. No more was the sun setting at 9 pm, but at a civilised 7 pm, which helped the night watches grab a few precious hours of sleep.As is our wont, we were with the "slow boats" of the World ARC fleet and arrived too late to get a mooring buoy. We. read more...

How time flies. We checked into Panama this morningon the San Blas Island of Porvenir, an easy 5 mile sail from Chichime, no reefsexcept right at Porvenir where some unfortunate soul had parked their boat inthe reef last week we believe, its on a reef called Sail Rock. Checking in to any of these countries is alwaysfun, we saw four people this morning, one to check the boat in, Coastguard typeagency, then onto the Kuna Indian rep to pay $20 each for our Kuna permit, thanonto immigration to get our passports stamped and pay $100 for our immigration,finally to see the navy chap to make him happy, its a real trial butnecessary I guess. We are now heading off at 8 knots to an anchorage40 miles nearer to Shelter Bay Marina in Colon to anchor overnight and then havea leisurely. read more...

The Answer:All are a part of our experiences at St Helena Island in middle of the South Atlantic! 1700 nm from South Africa, 1900nm from Salvador, BrazilWe arrived at St Helena on late Thursday Afternoon, Jan 22.We had been escorted on our approach to the island by two of the largest dolphins we have ever seen, 15 feet long with spots.On Friday Morning, we cleared into customs, immigration, and port control.Then went to the bank for St Helena Pounds [only good here and Ascension island] The rest of the day was spent touring the island, visiting the Briars, where Napoleon stayed for a couple of months while his prison home in Longwood was being built.We saw that as well as the room that he had died.Then it was off to his tomb where he has interned until the French dug him up 19 years. read more...

After motoring for the night, the wind came back with a squall early in the morning. Initially it was right on the beam so we had the white sails out and were sailing well, then it died down a bit and moved aft, so we decided to roll out Fat Albert...our 100% gennaker and we're sailing well and quietly without the banging of the boom...delightful! We're making decent progress at 6-8kts in 13kts wind and it's a beautiful day! We're sailing in company with NDS Darwin, with Celebrate 30nm south and Alpheratz and Ghost 38nm aft, so we have good radio communications with our faster friends which is nice. We're still working on the fishing...no joy yet. I think I'll throw a line around the tackle box and toss it in this time.Russ and Laurie on NEXUS 13:00 01/26/2015 at 13 31.4'S;11 09.8'W. read more...

Spent a night in East Lemmon Cays, interestingpilotage in, no way could it be done at night. Not such an interesting place as the Swimming Poolbut breezy and so cool. We tested the water maker and converted approx 100litres of sea water to drinking water, great technology, and very simple,forcing water through a very very fine filter membrane. It takes approx 400litres sea water to make 100 litres drinking water .It was a test in case therewere any issues so we could fix in Panama, just as well since one fitting leaksand needs replacing. Today we headed over for the rendevous at Chichime.This we had been advised was not such a safe or great place, in the event it wasperfectly OK. Nice very sheltered anchorage to the south of the island and veryfriendly welcome from the Kune indians who. read more...

St. Helena was discovered by the Portuguese navigator Joao da Nova Castella on May 21, 1502; and was named after the mother of the Emperor Constantine. Her name was...Helena; and her birthday, you guessed it, was on May 21. Up at 8:00 AM. Coffee and tea.Breakfast at 10:00 AM: scrambled eggs; cut up spiced potato; fruit cocktail; and brown bread. For Joel and me. Jeanine had yogurt and granola. We turned on the generator to charge batteries and made water for 3 hours. Joel transferred pictures from his camera and mine to his computer so we can send some to the our rally web site later today. We took the water taxi into the wharf at 11:40 AM, along with one empty jerry can that we had forgotten to have filled with diesel yesterday. When we got to the dock I asked our whale shark tour guide. read more...

By nightfall on Thursday 22nd most of the 15 World ARC boats were there with us at the Swimming Pool anchorage, with two just around the corner behind adjacent 'bug' island and another two still at their landfall anchorage to the west.A barbecue ashore was organised for Friday 23rd and we had a great afternoon on the well groomed Barbecue Island, looked after by three Kunas who sold us cold beers, coconut water or coke, lit the barbecue and also kindly boiled up the large spider crab we had just bought from a local family who visited us in their ulu (long dug out boat/canoe.The charge of $2US a head to land on the island was not grudged in any way! We barbecued another portion of our dorado catch.On the way in we were invited by Sarah and Luc on board the phenomenom that is Makena for a. read more...